


Small Towns Surrounded by Hills

by Rather_Nobody



Category: Columbine - Fandom, Dylan Klebold - Fandom, Eric Harris - Fandom
Genre: Columbine, Columbine shooting - Freeform, Dylan Klebold - Freeform, Eric Harris - Freeform, F/M, Mindfuck, Three-way Relationship, contains possible triggers, reader - Freeform, relationship, suicide attempt straight at the damn beginning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2018-10-02 08:10:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10213268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rather_Nobody/pseuds/Rather_Nobody
Summary: You happen to be a pretty normal (and sometimes also dangerously depressed) columbiner who runs into what looks like a pair of people who are cosplaying the columbine shooters.Well, things will escalate later. Just read it if you wanna.





	1. Taking a Walk

All it takes is just a little nudge. A little knock on your brain - a small headache, and you just can't fall asleep to shorten the while in which you wait for the pain to go away. You need to pee so fucking bad - that's what keeps your senses away from completely easening up and letting yourself flow away to a yet undiscovered dreamworld of yours. So you try your best to ignore it, because standing up and walking to the toilet... oh god... you don't wanna do that. You can imagine the pain getting tense and how you'll be even less sleepy once you come back... but can you be less sleepy than you're now? You don't wanna admit it, but you're pretty much widely awake. There's no way you could fall asleep in this condition... but you were almost there, just before only few minutes! Screw them, you think... screw those annoying phone commercials. They call you just to pull money from your wallet straight into their pockets, and sometimes, like now, their timing is just perfect. If it weren't for them to call you, you would be peacefully sleeping now.  
Now, all you do is behave like a little child. Once you actually come back from the toilet and your head hurts more than ever, still not being able to get sleepy, you begin to get angry and pitiful of yourself. Suddenly, everything around ignites hate inside of you... everything. Have you ever noticed how these walls of your room suck? The color is so fucking ugly. Also, why the fuck did your phone have to do this to you and why the fuck does it keep buzzing like if it was some bee?! You knew this was coming, oh boy, you did. You curl up into a ball as your entire body is in painful cramps. An usual discomfort allowed your mind to open up to all the negative things that you have stored in the back of your brain. All the words you didn't wanna hear but did, all the things you never wanted to happen but they did! All the glances you never wanted to receive... but you did! It's unfair how life is fucking treating you, right? At least you feel like that. It makes you pull your hair and bash your head, like if the thoughts were to detach together with the hair. Like if the pain from convulsively bashing your head would hide the headache, but it just gets worse.  
You wish you wouldn't hear those words and you wish you wouldn't be through things which happened, you wish you'd never see those glares. Secretly, you curse all the motherfuckers who caused you these memories, thus these raiding thoughts and thus these states of mind when you can't even control if you're breathing or not. You ignore everything around you for a while as knowing that it would do only bad - you're losing it, losing the track of anything that's happening right now. Even when you open your eyes, you don't see anything, because your vision is completely blurred thanks to all the tears you're shedding.  
After some minutes in this agony, you finally start gaining some of your senses back - you're not crying as much as before, which means that you're seeing much better now. And you also realize what the fuck happened through the last few minutes. Another salve of tears comes out when you realize that this is happening more and more often than ever... this isn't leading anywhere, is it? You do know that there IS a way out for you, and you realize that it's lying just next to your bed. In fact, you walked over it on your way to the toilet and back, and your memory works well enough to remember that it was still there. You didn't put this one on the place where it belongs, even though you were cleaning your room up this morning. You take a deep, shaky breath as you reach your hand behind you, feeling a cold metal object in your palm. You squeeze it and as you're lifting the object up, you hear a rustle of paper. Strange... you don't really remember placing it on a piece of paper, but who cares, really? You might have cleaned up back then, but you're a human - human have flaws. That means you could have just easily overlooked it, or maybe the paper was something important, something that belongs to the object. Like a manual and such.  
So you don't even bother looking at the thing you're holding anymore, you know exactly where it belongs. You place the chilling tip of it to your head and reach for a small lever with your finger... it's really, really small. You bet you could pull it with even your pinky finger, but it's too late to try that now. There isn't anything like hatred when you pull the little lever back. But all you hear is just a click, nothing happens... the hatred, wrath and endless self-pity comes back in few seconds. Honestly, what did you expect? Not anything at all, truly. You hopelessly let your arm land behind you again, dropping the gun back on the paper. You don't even want to count how many times you attempted this - it was kind of a russian roulette, everytime. You have no clue if the gun is loaded or not, but deep inside you're reconciled with the fact that there isn't a single bullet inside. Even if that was not the case, you know that you just couldn't care less.

You're outside now. Making slow steps, with your hands inside of the pockets of your [F/C] coat. It's not a too appealing weather today, the skies are gray, filled with clouds. You feel ashamed for what happened just some hours ago. It makes you feel cowardly and adds to your personality of a failure. Everyone always told you that you're not one, but you felt the opposite way, and so you do now. Even though your surroundings are fully empty, with nothing alive walking the streets except for you, you still feel the reproachful looks of your neighbors and other people who share the village with you. You know they're looking at you, somebody must be, although you're pretty sure that you're not suffering from paranoia. It's just the feeling of endless guilt - like if the grass, fences, houses and other lifeless stuff had eyes.  
Taking walks always helped you to process things which have happened, and it also gave you a space to overthink. Overthinking had two ways for you - one was discovering more about yourself or about others and discovering new ideas, the second one was experiencing a mental breakdown, because one of your thoughts accidentally stumbled into the path of unpleasant memories. Luckily, since the second option is something that you've already been through today, it doesn't seem like an option anymore. Or at least for the upcoming 48 hours. So this overthinking that you're going through now is actually calming - after you crawl from the depths of agony and inhale the fresh air, you deprive yourself of all the "wrong" stuff you've done and the feelings caused by them. It didn't have to be wrong in general, it was more about how you felt it was. You would always find an excuse for any so-called sin that you've done in the past, such as willingly risking your own life, slapping back people who dared to disrespect you, showing interest in stuff that others would judge you for, or something more common that almost everyone secretly does - reading gay fanfics. Boy, that could make you feel really ashamed sometimes, especially when you felt respect towards those people who were included in the fanfiction. But even these things helped you realize who you are - you would identify yourself as a lost case, spending your spare time reading about serial killers and digging into everything that remains after them. You also enjoyed studying the psychology of each individual in this topic as well, especially when nobody was really sure what led the people into committing mass or/and serial murders. Well, in some cases (and in majority of them), they would often throw guilt at mental illnesses and dangerous sexual desires, such as necrophilia. Revenge and extremistic ideologies were a popular cause, too. But sometimes, there were cases to theorize and wonder about, and you enjoyed these more than any others. You've spent more money on psychology-based books than on clothes, and you've spent even more time reading them. Sometimes you'd read them over and over, to properly understand everything that the authors tried to explain.  
Suddenly, you begin hearing footsteps behind you. You don't really care, though, because the look towards the horizont was horribly appealing - between the houses' roofs, there was always a little space. Through that space, you would see large hills covered in trees and pure nature. It was a very aesthetical thing, and one of the reasons why you wouldn't want to move away. It prepares you for a glance at the ground when you hear the footsteps coming closer - they're quick and heavy. You always tend to look down when someone's passing by, it's probably a habit from high school. You're terribly not-excited to go back there to start your senior year.  
To your surprise, and also a shock, the stranger didn't just pass by. Your heart skipped a beat when the not-so-much taller person bumped into your shoulder from behind, and to their obvious carelessnes continued walking. They were a lot faster than you and also appeared stronger, but this behavior just couldn't let you keep on walking in peace.  
,,Are you too fucking lazy to just dodge a meter to pass by like a normal fucking person?" You hissed, frowning. This might have been a village full of rude and shitty kids, and you could have already gotten used to that, but it would be like letting someone shit on your head if you didn't act rude as well.  
,,You can suck my ass." The person answered. Judging by his voice, the person was a male. Maybe that's the reason why you got even more mad after he dared to talk back.  
,,Wow, what a fucking gentleman!" You shook your head in disbelief, but maybe started regretting it once he stopped walking, causing his black trench coat to stop slightly floating behind him. Whatever was going to happen, you were prepared only a little, probably not even that. He spun around and began making steps of the same speed as before, unfortunately, in your direction. His eyes couldn't really pierce you with a poison full of hate, but you were sure that you're feeling how angry he was. You wondered why, and also felt scared. God knows why you just didn't decide to run.  
,,People were never gentle to me as well, you know," He said. His voice was strict, but he didn't yell at you. Ignoring all the circumstances for a moment, you realized that you recognize this voice from somewhere. And looking at his iconic outfit made of a trench coat, white t-shirt with an even more iconic writing on it, sunglasses and a dark cap turned backwards, you knew very well who he was. Well... it couldn't have been him, but it was still an interesting situation.  
,,What the fuck are you even doing though? Cosplaying someone who murdered people and then himself?" You wanted to grin, but were still unsure about how the person would react. Cosplayers sometimes get into their role too much, and shit happens. You knew that from your own experience.  
,,Cosplaying?" His facial expression became a mix of confusion and anger. He probably thought that your sayings were more than ridiculous. ,,What the fuck?" He tilted his head, being completely honest about his inner feelings.  
,,Stop bullshitting me, okay?" The tone in your voice got more laid back as you made a step away from him. You didn't like how close his face was to yours. ,,This is the twenty-first century, after all."  
,,Well too fucking bad because I didn't come from your twenty-first century. Deal with it." It seemed like the confusion faded away from him pretty quickly, and the will to not let himself lose the argument filled his words again. You let out a sigh and decided not to dig into him anymore - why would you have to be the one to ruin his fun? He's obviously trying to tell you to stop bringing up the real him and disapproving the idea of someone cosplaying a REAL killer. You had to admit that he was doing a good job, after all - both visually and the way he acted.  
,,Okay, okay," you nodded. ,,fine, I believe you. Just calm down for the sake of God." You said and dared to look up into his eyes covered by sunglasses. You couldn't see a glimpse of them, logically, but you tried your best to search for any clue on how they look.  
,,You better believe me." He frowned and turned around, beginning to walk away from you. You secretly cursed yourself for acting all cocky towards him, but you were assured that you had your point. It could have been an awesome meet-up, you've never, ever seen someone imitate Eric Harris so perfectly. What he does also means that he must be interested in what happened on Columbine High School, too. What a waste of a chance, really. Standing there and deciding what to do next after he horribly embarassed you in front of (hopefully) no one, another unexpected thing put an end to your anxious thoughts, and welcomed thoughts full of panic and what-the-fuck-is-going-on. You felt something behind you - it was just the feeling of someone's presence at first, but then sound waves of another familiar voice filled your left ear. Chills ran down your spine as you listened to what the other person was saying.  
,,Yeah, sorry about that. Sometimes he gets... very unpleasant." You looked up, and saw another one with the same outfit. The only difference was his face and thick, blonde hair sticking out from under his cap. You were confused - are there two of them now...?


	2. Sunblinds

,,Why are we even sitting on a place like this?" Eric leaned back in the chair, rambling. ,,So many old people around. Not even any chicks." He complained. You, Eric and Dylan were sitting at a round table, the chairs were also pretty old and uncomfortable. But it's not like you three had enough money to afford something less cheap. You weren't even inside the pub since there were too many people, as judged by both of them, so instead you just sat outside in the grumpy weather.  
Sipping on apple juices which were pulled straight from the freezer in this weather was (sarcastically) a very good idea, too.  
Also... drinking an APPLE JUICE in a pub?! Never in your wildest dreams have you thought of that...

Dylan remained silent and so did you, not really being the kind of person who would support his discomfort - you rather overthought about what you could answer to him, not letting any chance for a conversation slip through your hands. What played a bigger role, though, was what happened after you and Eric met at the street. You couldn't stop but wonder why he turned back to you and decided to tightly grab you by your arm, leading both you and Dylan... somewhere. Or at least that's what he said. Actually, you had two ideas about why it ended up like this - one is, you're simply just a pretty girl and since Eric heard Dylan excusing his attitude, he decided to take a chance and maybe fuck you later in the evening. This option was very suspicious, almost unfairly, and you knew that. But you just couldn't help yourself. Well, anyways, there's the second option and it's just almost no different from the first one - that without Dylan saying a word, Eric would just simply pass you by and wouldn't care at all. Maybe there was something special about his friend actually speaking up to strangers like that, and Eric could have thought that Dylan is hitting on you, and decided to do him a little favor. Well, cosplay or not - they still were men and you had your assumptions. At least they took off their sunglasses before sitting down with you.

,,Do you have the money to go somewhere more comfortable?" You raised eyebrows, shifting your eyes at Eric. He shrugged and pulled out his wallet, opening it. When he looked inside, his facial expression stayed neutral. Seems like he wasn't surprised, happy, nor sad about what he saw inside. 

,,Doesn't really matter." Eric answered and quickly changed glances with Dylan, almost looking like if he was begging him to finally say something. Dylan, however, didn't say a word again. ,,It's not like there's anything better nearby, right? Such a poor place." He let out, and you couldn't agree more.

,,Right." You nodded and sipped from your glass of juice again. Staring at the very bottom, you realized that you've just finished your drink. You looked up just to see Dylan non-verbally offering himself to bring you another one, but you shook your head, not really feeling like you want or need a second glass of juice. He played his character well, but you wished for him to talk more. ,,So do you have any place to like stay in? I mean, in this town." 

,,Yeah, there's an abandoned something, so we decided to move in." Eric said, standing up to pick up his empty glass, and eventually yours and Dylan's, too. ,,I just wish I'd remember the way that leads there... this place is small but easy to get lost in." He added, carrying all three glasses inside the pub. He was even handy enough to open the entrance door with so many glasses in his hands - you knew you'd never be able to do that with your clumsy hands. Once Eric was gone to return the dishes and supposedly pay for all the stuff, you and Dylan happened to be alone. 

,,And you? You remember the way to your home, right?" You looked up at Dylan and chuckled, not intending to be mean. Even when you two were only sitting, he was still much taller than you. 

,,To our home...?" Dylan appeared to chuckle a little as well, which was only a good sign. You could tell how shy he was, judging by his unsure-sounding voice. Just at that moment you realized that you should go easy on him, but at the same time, the fact that you talked to him seemed to make him glad. ,,Yeah, I do." He nodded. You could both hear Eric's footsteps getting closer and closer as the sound of his heavy boots walking on the wooden floor filled the pub's outside's grounds. 

,,Okay," Eric stopped by you and Dylan, and you both stood up by reflex when you saw that Eric isn't sitting down. ,,I guess it's time to go somewhere else now." He looked around, scanning the surroundings as he shoved his hands into the trenchcoat's pockets, making his way back to the sidewalk. Dylan obeyedly followed him, and you were the next and also the last one to do so. You kept a little distance from them as soon as you saw Dylan and Eric leaning close to each other, like if they were whispering something important to each other. You didn't wanna dig into what they had to settle out, so you just stood about three meters away from them until their little talk was done. 

,,Yeah, so,... [Y/n], don't you wanna come over?" Eric asked, putting his sunglasses on again. ,,Like, right now." You were kind of surprised and shocked by such a question. This thing that you were building between each other - let's call it a friendship - was escalating too quickly for your taste. But it would be a horrible waste to say no, you knew that!

,,Well, I mean..." You looked away, trying to recall if you didn't leave the oven on. You were also kinda shy to admit that you want to accept Eric's invitation. ,,I don't see why not." You shrugged, walking slowly and carefully closer towards them. For a moment you felt like you're making a huge mistake, but you live only once and certain things are worth trying... right? 

,,Nice." You could see a rare glimpse of Eric's smile as he began walking in the direction where you both came from. Dylan was obviously taking the lead, you and Eric were just a tail to the lion, even though you were all walking next to each other with Dylan in the middle.

Walking next to these two dudes was something incredible to you. Finally a happening to gladly interrupt your boring life full of endless misery - you were glad. And somehow, you also felt safe, or more likely... like a part of something. Could it be because Dylan was so tall, giving the impression of being the dominant one? Well, physically, he was. But on the psychical side of the thing, Eric was more dominant than Dylan together with you. It was just sparkling from him - even burning, like a mighty fire. It fits his attitude perfectly, you thought to yourself. 

,,Oh," Eric finally spoke up again, breaking the very silence. ,,I recognize this already. Now we take a turn left, right, Vodka?" He looked up at his friend.

,,Yeah." Dylan simply answered his question. He clearly noticed that you've glanced up at him too, judging by how he suddenly looked down. You felt kind of bad for him. It would be awesome to break his character at least a little, just to get him to say some more words. You wished for that so, so much. Eventually, you took the left turn and continued on walking.

,,That's it." Eric said proudly, like if he was the one to lead you there. Dylan just walked over to the front door and opened them, stepping inside. So did you and Eric, but you felt a huge discomfort while commiting the entire act. There was just something odd about the house - it seemed cold and every piece of furniture had a really old vibe. The place was making you feel uncomfortable, but you tried your best to hide it anyways. It's not like you're the basic tumblr thot who writes poems about anxiety, but their house was making you feel anxious in many ways.

,,Y-you can sit here." Dylan patted the couch and you didn't dare to disobey, sitting down straight at the spot where he patted. You looked up at both of them, since they happened to stand right in front of you - Eric looking at you from the left side, and Dylan from the right. You were in a really awkward situation which made you gulp from nervosity, not having any idea what you should expect. You didn't even know what was going to happen now, what were going to be their next moves - and suddenly you also realized what of a dumb thing you've done, wanting to go back home so bad. Rather waste a chance than get held captive by two strangers, right? But you should've thought about that earlier. Your fault.

,,Something's up?" Eric wondered, noticing how uncomfortable you looked. He took his sunglasses off and so did Dylan. They've placed them on a small table next to the couch. ,,You suddenly seem so pale." He said as sitting down next to you, eventually taking his hat off as well. You were amazed by the haircut - it was just the same as Eric had. 

,,I don't remember this house being abandoned." You said and scanned the area once again. There was a TV opposite to the couch and right next to it were wooden stairs with an old-fashioned railing. You jumped when you heard the TV suddenly switching on, it made a loud noise. One of them probably switched it on with a remote and you didn't even notice it. 

,,It was, for like a month." Dylan finally spoke up as well and made some steps towards a room that seemed to be the kitchen. His heavy boots made the wooden floor creak. ,,Wanna take a look around the house?" He asked, seeming more confident in his own territory. You nodded and stood up, walking closer to Dylan.

,,Hey, don't you wanna take your coat off?" Eric asked you from behind, tilting his head. ,,It's not THAT cold in here." He said and you didn't even say a word, taking it off. 

,,Where do I put it?" You squeezed the coat in your hands unsurely, looking around for a peg or something similar to it. That was when Eric released a small, cute smile while letting out a small sigh. It, however, didn't sound anyhow annoyed. It was like if he found your insecureness cute.

,,I'll hang it in the closet for you," Eric said. ,,throw it." He stood up and stretched his hands out towards you. You hesitated a little before throwing it to him, and he caught it successfully. Thanks godness, you didn't want to say sorry for how terrible you are at throwing stuff. It reminded you of PE classes in high school - everytime you had to play something that included throwing or catching stuff, you were immediately the loser without even trying. On the bright side, however, you always scored in softball games. 

,,Thanks." You returned the smile and turned back to Dylan. You could hear Eric walking somewhere near the entrance door to probably and hopefully put the coat where it belongs. Touching your jean's pockets to ensure yourself that you didn't leave any important stuff like your phone and wallet in the coat's pockets, you experienced a nice stress relief. Everything was with you, and your items weren't at risk.  
Dylan looked at you and smiled as well, ensuring himself that you're ready to follow him. He moved, making his first decision - to show you the kitchen. It looked nice and apart from every part of the house, the floor was covered with nice, green tiles. The walls were painted green as well, but the color was very pale. Either intentionally or not, it looked nice. The next room to go through was of course the bathroom, followed by their living room where Eric was peacefully watching the TV. He seemed very interested in the plot, created by actresses with C-cups. Yeah, the plot was important for him in this case.  
Finally, Dylan decided to show you the upstairs. You followed him, and behind his back, you felt somehow secured, and kind of like a tail. But you didn't mind. His funny comments towards specific pieces of furnitures or walls' colors were awesome, and he didn't forget to properly introduce you every single room. Upstairs, there were two rooms - one was Dylan's and the other was Eric's. You carefully inspected both of them with your glance. True to say, Eric's room was messier than Dylan's. 

,,I'd rather be pecked to death by a crowd of doves than have such a shitty bed like Eric does." Dylan grinned and by his side, you felt chilled enough to sit down onto the bed. It was hard like a rock, it almost hurt, but didn't keep you away from chuckling. 

,,Yeah, that's super bad. How does he even sleep?" You looked around. Not only that the bed was horrible to even sit on, but it was messy. Eric probably gave zero fucks about making his bed. Since you already saw Dylan's room, there was no other place where he could take you. He sat down next to you on and made a little ouch noise when his ass hit the bed. 

,,I have no idea." Dylan said and rested elbows on his thighs, staring at the wall opposite to you. It was covered with various posters. It was assuring you that they were only cosplayers after all - none of it was something that Eric would adore, as far as you've read about him. ,,This is awesome. That you are here, but... sorry if it was too quick. Eric is really a prey hunter." He spoke up quietly, making sure that nothing can be heard downstairs.

,,That fits him pretty well." You nodded, shifting your glance from the posters to the ground. You tried your best not to look at Dylan, even though you wanted to inspect every piece of his so recognizable and iconic face. It was interesting, not knowing how some cosplayers can do it - having just the same face as the original character. But it wasn't anything special, you've seen so many professionals being like that, so you should be used to it. 

,,You're saying that like if you knew him..." Dylan pointed out, making you feel a little embarassed. You could sense him turning his head towards the window. 

,,I," You stumbled over your own words, realizing that you could maybe hurt him. It was a sensitive topic, after all - talking about someone who killed people and then himself. God knows what relationship the person next to you had towards the real shooters. ,,I've read his diary. I'm sorry." You made sure to put a little apologize after your words, leaning over to glance at the window as well. Little did you realize that the sun was already setting, the evening about to hit. You didn't want to leave, although you were scared to even breathe in that place before. Dylan was simply just a very nice company. 

,,No need to apologize," He shook his head and stood up, making his way towards the window as soon as he noticed that you were looking too. ,,I'm aware it's out there, you guys have a full right to read it." Dylan sighed and raised the curtains so he could see better from the window. You rather didn't say anything and stood up as well, following him. Ending up next to each other, the glance allowed you to witness a beautiful scenery - since you were upstairs, there weren't any houses blocking your view, and the view was so god-damn amazing. The skies were orange with pink-ish clouds, with the sun setting behind the hills covered by woods. You've seen this before, but not from this point of view. 

,,Stunning." You said and looked up at Dylan, who looked pretty touched. It made you quickly look back to the distance. 

,,Yeah," Dylan agreed, but suddenly, his hand reached the sunblind's string, and pulled it, shutting the sunblinds closed. You quickly glanced at him again and made a step back, being frightened by what he just did. You didn't expect it at all, and it was giving the entire room a creepy vibe - like if you put a dark-orange overlay over the entire room. ,,but sunsets get me too emotional." He said, looking down at you calmly. His expression seemed almost emotionless, but the feeling you've got from him was very unappealing, yet still strangely nice. You've never felt this way before. Dylan strenghtened the tightness of the situation by making a small step towards you, like if he planned to do something. Breathing in to quickly respond with something, something broke the silence before you could. It was Eric's horribly loud and yet funny laughter, coming from downstairs, making Dylan suddenly show a sign of active muscles on his face. He grinned and let out a quiet, wheezing laugh as he put his palm over his forehead. 

,,Oh my god!" Your mouth expanded into both sides and you began laughing as well, not being able to hold it in when both of them were laughing, no matter what reason was behind it. Eric's laughter was hilarious and completely ruined the moment, but Dylan added to it all - you both knew that something unexpected could've happened between you two if Eric didn't pick the right minute and second to be loud. That's probably what made the entire situation a lot funnier.  
Your laugh filled the room very quickly, making each other laugh even more by the funny noises coming from your vocal cords. For some reason, you found Dylan's laughter funny and the more you laughed, the more funny he did find yours. You were so loud to the point when you heard Eric rushing upstairs to hurriedly open your door. 

,,'The fuck's up?" He smiled widely, showing off his perfect teeth and stunning smile. When he saw both you and Dylan wheezing in tears, he couldn't help but laugh as well. 

,,Listen to that laugh," Dylan sat down to the ground and pointed at you as you were leaning your back against the wall. ,,it's so fucking funny." He screeched and Eric seemed to react positively to the weird sound of your laughter. Kind of sounded like a dying whale, and kind of like a hyena that's suffering a heart attack. When you thought about it later, you realized that there was almost nothing funny enough to get you laughing for so long - it was just the endless loop of not being able to stop.

,,Come on." You said once the situation calmed down and walked to Dylan, offering a hand to help him stand up. 

,,Can't do that, you're a lady." Dylan refused your help and stood up by himself - clumsily, but he managed to do it. You put your hand back ashamedly and shrugged, letting out a little, unamused 'okay'. 

,,Wow, he's truly a bigger gentleman than me," Eric pointed out, making a little bit of a poisonous reference to how you two met. ,,Also, why the fuck were your sunblinds closed? What the hell were you guys doing here?" He switched glances between the window, you, Dylan and then repeated it in the same order. You blushed, not really being able to explain it so quickly - but Dylan, of course, was there to save you with a small amount of a verbal help. 

,,Something that you didn't manage to do throughout your entire LIFE." Dylan winked at him, daring to be offensive towards his friend, who just couldn't take it seriously - they both died virgings, after all. Eric giggled and shook his head in disbelief, knowing very well that Dylan was the winner of this round. 

,,This day was pretty grumpy in majority, man," Eric sighed, leaning his shoulder against the door jamb. ,,what are we gonna do now?" 

,,Maybe I should go home," you said. ,,I am actually kinda worried that overstaying for too long would be rude of me." 

,,It's not like you weren't rude when you first met me." Eric laughed, locking his cold blue eyes at you. His glare was tempting and putting you into confusion, not really being sure what he means by saying that. ,,That means I really don't wanna let you go just yet... it's not even night." He said. 

,,Yeah, and the night is young, you know." Dylan decided to help him out in playing his cards, knowing that both of them were enjoying a woman in their house. They haven't been through something like this for a long time, both of them, and it was no wonder - in a place like this, it was hard to find a decent woman. But you never knew that you'd be one of the rare, decent ones, that's probably why you were so surprised about it. ,,You should stay a little longer."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Here's another chapter, I hope you liked it!  
> Thank you so much for all the kudos on the last chapter, I appreciate it <3 Be sure to leave me a feedback if you wanna.  
> Also, sorry for the eventual grammatical errors, English isn't my native language.
> 
> [Y/n] = Your name
> 
> And one last thing, for the people who would like to dig their noses into "WHY THE FUCK WOULD I WRITE SOMETHING LIKE THIS, DYLAN AND ERIC KILLED PEOPLE, OMG, I MUST BE SO SICK, PLS STOP"... Don't even bother. Althought nobody like that commented yet, I am very well aware that those people will eventually come and leave only pure hate behind, that's why I'm including this. My argument is - if you don't like it, just ignore it. Nobody is asking for an opinion from someone who only wants to rant about how writing this is wrong. Thank you.  
> But for all the others, don't be afraid to leave a comment or contact me if you just wanna talk or something.  
> Bye for now! <3


	3. Drunk bald man wearing a tuxedo

The boys led you back downstairs, both suddenly acting suspiciously out of character. If anything, you'd just expect them shoot a bullet straight through your brain - but only in a roleplaying matter - this was a nice reminder that they can't be the real ones and you're probably not dreaming as well. You sat down and observed their actions - Eric sat next to you, not willing to give the TV up to only you. Dylan however, made his way to the kitchen.

,,What's he up to?" You turned to Eric, asking curiously. It was obvious, since Dylan's target was kitchen, but the silence was only fastening the emotional rollecoaster you were going through. Mysteriously relaxed at one time, nervous and paranoid the other time. You were praying for your emotions to finally settle up and calm down.

,,How am I supposed to know? I'm not his brain..." Eric shrugged and inconspiciously reached his arm closer to you, leaning it on the top of the couch behind your head. It was like if he wanted to just wrap his arm around your shoulders, and this was just the softer version of doing so. ,,Hey VoDKa! The lady is asking what you're up to?!" He jokingly called out for Dylan. The fact that he pretty much embarassed you was intended, but it for sure wasn't meant in any harmful or bad way.

,,Some home-made sloppy joes." Dylan let you both know about his plans. You couldn't help yourself but try and hold back laughter, since in the year of 2016 it was hardly believable that anyone would still eat something like a sloppy joe. 

,,What's so funny about it huh?" Eric leaned over to show you the disappointment in his face. "Can't girls nowadays appreciate some good ol' classic?" He raised eyebrows, expecting an answer from you.

,,I mean, I have no problem!" You shook your head, trying to sound as nice as possible. For a moment, your eyes met with Eric's, but you quickly shifted your glance somewhere else - preferably to the ground. ,,I've never eaten one before, though." You finally admitted. Eric seemed like he would continue the conversation, but Dylan stepped in the room just at the right time, holding two sloppy joes in his hands and one between his teeth. He handed one to you and one to Eric, then finally took a bite off of the one that he had in his mouth.

,,Delicious," Dylan sat down next to you, chewing on something that was probably god-like to both of them. ,,you're gonna love it, [Y/N]." He looked at you, obviously excited about your reaction. There was nothing else left for you to do than taste a sloppy joe for the first time in your life. You carefully took a bite, paying attention not to squeeze any of the ketchup out. 

,,That's actually pretty good." You nodded as chewing on the piece of food. Both Dylan and Eric amusedly looked at each other, smiling - and it made you smile too. Another 'my first time' thing to mention in historical moments of your life. Heck, this entire experience could be mentioned in there. 

****

You were lying at the same couch where you've been happily eating sloppy joes just three hours ago. Going back, recalling what you managed to do during those 180 minutes made you smile without even realizing it - you tried out (for you) new, old school food, Eric actually almost wrapped his arm around your shoulders, you watched a very primitive, but somehow funny TV show together, and then took turns in playing some of Eric's video games. You were quite surprised about what platform the games ran on, more like how did the platform even still manage to work. Remembering an old saying made you calmer about it all - ,,Old, but gold", and in this case it must've been true.  
It was already night time, and Dylan went to bed, giving you the sweet opportunity to sleep on the couch. Downstairs, while they were upstairs. Leaving you all alone. In a complete darkness, at a place that you don't even know. At least Eric was still in the shower, but you would end up awake all alone anyways, because he'll eventually go to bed as well. Didn't you want to go back home? Oh yeah, you did, but you remember that Dylan convinced you to stay at their place, because going back home this late at night could be dangerous. Why didn't he just walk you there, then? Would you walk him there if he was at your place? Would you want him to leave, would you have nothing against him leaving? You rolled to your side as your overthinking was slowly eating your brain away. Why did you even care so much? You were staring blankly into the darkness. The only sound you could hear was your own breathing and the water coming from upstairs, but a slightest noise around you would make you jump in frighten anyways.

Suddenly, the stream of water stopped. Once the house was in complete silence, you could even hear Eric stepping out of the shower and then sliding the shower's curtains closed. After a while, the bathroom's door opened. Eric clearly was giving zero fucks about Dylan's sleep, judging by how loudly he opened them. But maybe it wasn't his fault - maybe they're just old and rusty, and that's why they make so much noise. You'd expect Eric to walk into his room and sleep, but you heard his footsteps coming closer to the stairs. Sweat covered your shoulders as you quickly rolled to your other side, so you would face the stairs. What does he possibly want? Currently, you couldn't imagine anything better than the worst. However, the time to stop overthinking has come once you saw his silhouette in the darkness, stopping on one of the stairs. 

,,Good night." Eric said quietly, but didn't leave, probably waiting for your answer.

,,Good night," You answered in the same quiet voice, staring up at him. But for some reason, it wasn't the only thing you wanted to say. ,,and thank you for letting me sleep over." 

,,No problem," He nodded. ,,if you need anything, wake me up." 

,,Sure." You couldn't help but smile. This offer made you feel like he's the nicest person alive, even though you knew you probably wouldn't willingly wake him up anyways, like the shy person you were. With a little "okay", Eric walked back upstairs and soon enough you could hear him silently closing the room's door behind himself. You rolled back to the side you were at before, facing the couch and snuggling onto a blanket that they let you - or more accurately, made you borrow. It smelled nice, like if it was just washed and dried, not being used by anyone before. Simply pure.  
Facing the couch was better than having your face exposed to the empty and sort of creepy room. Being exposed like that would make you feel naked and somehow unprotected - guess who was still afraid of the dark in their age. The important thing was that today's last impression Eric made was unexpectedly nice and kind, other from his first impression. It helped you stop doubting so much, and thus opened the gates of peaceful sleep. You didn't hesitate to enter them and drift away into yet another world.

*****

Something woke you up - the sound of door opening. What was even scarier is that this sound was coming from the front door, and you didn't know if Eric or Dylan tend to take night walks, or just go outside for a random cigarette. Someone stepped in and giggled, then a noise of glass breaking echoed through the entire living room. It made you immediately sit up and stare at the door. The silhouette's posture seemed mangled, like if they had a hard time standing on their feet - did they just drop a glass of alcohol because they were drunk? Definitely seemed like it. Your first reaction was to determine who the person is - bald head, slightly chubby and probably wearing a tuxedo. Definitely didn't look like any of the boys who were supposed to own this house, which made you freeze in fear. You prayed for the person to not go sit on the couch or turn on the lights, so you could quietly storm upstairs to wake Eric and Dylan up. But nothing was happening. The person just stood there, leaning his upper arm against the door jamb, which was probably the only thing that kept him standing. They'd let out silent wheezes and giggles, like if someone was telling a funny joke, but it seemed like there's nobody but you two. And you weren't telling any jokes, for sure. 

,,Home, sweet fuckin'... home..." The person hiccuped, obviously being really drunk. So maybe he just casually entered a different house, thinking that it's his own. Such a thought gave you the confidence to speak up.

,,E-excuse me...?" You asked, your voice noticably weakened by fear. The person stopped giggling and lifted his head up - even though you couldn't see into his face because of the darkness, you could still feel the glare piercing through you. You tagged it as one of the creepiest glares you've ever received. 

You opened your eyes, laying on your back. Your heart was suddenly racing like after a running marathon and your brain couldn't put the latest memories together - weren't you just sitting up? Weren't you just encountering a stranger? You quickly sat back up, but nobody was in the doorway anymore - you could swear there was a drunk person just moments ago! Everything that happened in last few minutes felt real enough for you to disbelieve that it was just a dream. You looked at the stairs, just to get frightened again by seeing now two people concernedly standing there. One of them being taller than the other, both being slim, not chubby, not wearing a tuxedo either. Thanks God they probably were Dylan and Eric, not some unknown drunk man.

,,Did you say anything?" Eric asked, but you didn't really understand why would he ask that. The only thing you said was a weak and quiet 'excuse me', which would be impossible for both of them to hear.

,,Why are you panting like crazy?" Before you could say anything, Dylan added another question. Both of them seemed curious, it was just a huge mystery to you as of how they could notice that something is wrong when they were so far away. Did this house really have such tiny walls that even the most silent moan could be heard?

,,I swear to God," You began your sentence with a well-known, in movies over-used foolish phrase, knowing that words are going to storm out of you like bullets. ,,there was somebody standing in the doorway, they were drunk, I think, and called this place a home, I mean... They were there, I'm not a liar, I sw-"

,,Yeah, so you just had a dream." You got cut off by Eric's firm answer. He for sure didn't intend to shit around with the topic and just told things how they actually were. 

,,It was too real!" You shook your head, still slightly affected by the experience. Even though it was very logical that you were just dreaming, something inside you was making you deny that Eric is right. Probably this suspicious denial made him walk downstairs to switch the lights on. As soon as light filled the room, your vision got blurry and you had to narrow your eyelids down to even see anything. You noticed that the sudden light made Eric squint his eyes, as he was the one followed by your sight. 

,,Listen, we both trust you, but this really was just a dream." Eric said in a sleepy voice, almost yawning. He overshadowed his sight to have a better look at you, and as soon as he did that, his eyes stopped looking so squinted. You could've done that too, but your hands felt lot more comfortable in the warmth under your blanket. ,,Should I stay here for now?" He offered, putting you into a slight embarassement.

,,I don't wanna sound childish but I also don't wanna stay alone after this." You admitted, having to be honest in such situations of confusion. You'd never admit it before about two or three years ago, but as the time went by, you've learnt to accept help, no matter how awkward it could get. Thankfully, it seemed like Eric had no problem with actually staying there, as he gestured at Dylan to go back upstairs. Dylan nodded and granted you a smile as you looked at him before he disappeared upstairs. Then you were left to pay attention to Eric only and vice versa. 

,,Glad you admit it," Eric pushed an armchair that would normally stand few meters away from the couch closer to you. ,,it's rare to see girls not play all tough, but actually know how to take care of their needs." Switching the lights back off before sitting into the armchair, he said something that could be taken as a compliment. A rare and oddly honest one, but still a compliment.

,,Thanks." You muttered while laying back down, now not being afraid to turn your back to the couch. 

,,No problem, again." He answered, instead of bothering you with the classic roots of annoyance called "for what?". Once the situation was calm now, at least for you, you began feeling a bit ashamed for what happened. You must've seemed like a really cool girl that doesn't make any unnecessary drama, and all of sudden you cause this. 

,,Should I be sorry too?" You spoke your mind, trying to find Eric's eyes in the darkness, but there was only black. You only saw him turning his head to you before speaking.

,,There's no reason to be, everyone has had nightmares." He said. ,,Just try to calm down and not overthink this too much."

,,Did you hear me say anything?" 

,,I heard something like - 'Excuse me?' -, but like pretty loud." Eric quoted. It made your insides jump a little, knowing that it's exactly the phrase you remember too, except that you didn't really yell it. ,,Why?"

,,It's exactly what I said in the dream." Your voice got a little shaky.

,,That happens." He simply shrugged it off, giving you a good example of what you should do about all the things on your mind. Not really for the entire life, but right now. Holding on to your thoughts was a good and helping-to-develop thing, but only at certain times of the day and only if you didn't feel like the thoughts are destroying you. 

,,I guess so." You had no other smart choice but to agree. Feeling like the conversation was over for now, you closed your eyes and let out a sigh of relief. The sudden silence made you realize how the entire situation tired you out, so even your thoughts didn't refuse to let you slowly fall asleep. Falling asleep next to someone like Eric felt safe, even though you knew him roughly for a day - that's probably just the unexplainable chemistry between girls and boys. You weren't sure if he's feeling the same kind of nature that was going on between you two at the moment, but based off of Eric's diary that you've read at least two times - men are naturally above women with strenght, meant to protect them. And even though he planned to leave for his own bed after you fall asleep, he fell asleep in there as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I hope you liked it <3  
> Please leave a feedback if you have anything to tell me, such as what I should do better or if you like the story and if I should even continue.  
> Also, sorry for the eventual grammatical errors, English isn't my native language (I was also writing this chapter late at night while being pretty sleepy, so those errors may build up considering that)
> 
> I also would love for all the feminists to not get offended because of the last paragraph, thank you.  
> Also why the hell are my first-chapter end notes appearing here? If you know how to fix that, PLEASE let me know...
> 
> And one last thing, for the people who would like to dig their noses into "WHY THE FUCK WOULD I WRITE SOMETHING LIKE THIS, DYLAN AND ERIC KILLED PEOPLE, OMG, I MUST BE SO SICK, PLS STOP"... Don't even bother. Althought nobody like that commented yet, I am very well aware that those people will eventually come and leave only pure hate behind, that's why I'm including this. My argument is - if you don't like it, just ignore it. Nobody is asking for an opinion from someone who only wants to rant about how writing this is wrong (even though I realize that putting up my work also means that I should expect and accept all sorts of feedback). Thank you.  
> But for all the others, don't be afraid to leave a comment or contact me if you just wanna talk or something.  
> Bye for now! <3


	4. Shots Fired

You haven't slept this comfortably in a while - you realize that as the sun shines through the window, forcing you to wake up. Just from the first moment of you being awake, you felt fresh like almost never. You looked next to yourself to find Eric still deeply asleep in the armchair, but didn't quite want to wake him up, even though you probably had to. You sneaked your hand from under the blanket and reached for his, slightly shaking it.

,,Eric," you whispered, but got louder as he didn't seem like wanting to let go of whatever he was dreaming about. ,,Eric, wake up!"

,,What?" Eric clumsily opened his eyes, and after he somehow put together the reason why he's not in his bed, he turned his head at you. In that time, your hand already shifted away from his, back to the safety of your blanket. ,,Hey uhh... what's the time?" He suddenly sprung out of the armchair and looked down at his wristwatch. What followed was an unbelievably stressful and uneasy reaction, caused by the fact that he apparently overslept something important. Not even having the time to look at you, he rushed upstairs while yelling Dylan's nickname - VoDKa. You didn't even manage to properly wake up and chaos was already happening, what a nice way to start the morning. 

You sat up and looked around. Everything around looked peaceful, but you immediately recalled your nightmare. Shivers would still run down your spine when the picture of an unknown man, standing in the doorway and talking nonsense appeared in your mind again. However, you didn't have any other choice than to shake it off as quickly as possible, which you were luckily able to do at the moment. You looked up at the clock hanging above the front door, just to realize that it's 9AM - but what's so horrible about that time? Well, maybe Eric and Dylan have a job somewhere, and this meant that they would come in late. Or they simply just had something planned. Suddenly, door on the second floor opened, and you could hear Eric's stressed-out voice all over the house. He wasn't shouting at anyone, and if his tone was higher, then he didn't mean it in the bad way towards anyone. 

,,Reb, Reb, listen - we haven't missed out that much, we still have time!" Dylan tried to make it up for Eric, who rushed downstairs like crazy. He made his way to the cellar door and swung them open, quickly walking down the stairs once again. You were stretching your arms just when Dylan was desperately walking by, still looking like if it was midnight for him. He was for sure disappointed by the fact that his friend is getting horribly stressed out at giving himself a bonus hour of sleep. 

,,What's the matter with him?" You looked up at Dylan, your confusion being evidently noticable because of your facial expression. 

,,We were supposed to go shooting in the woods today, and kinda overslept," Dylan started explaining, yawning inbetween the sentence. ,,and he always gets... stressed and he panics when something doesn't go as he planned or ordered the day before." He let out a sigh, glancing at the widely opened cellar door. You clearly remembered hearing about Eric's possible OCD in some docummentary, but even if this behavior was normal for him, it was visible that Eric's actions were doing him a worry.

,,That sucks," you looked down, not being very surprised by it either. ,,can I help somehow, though?" You asked, getting out from under the blanket to stand up. You still had your pajamas, but didn't really care at this point. You knew that your clothes were still somewhere in the bathroom's closet, and you could go get dressed anytime. 

,,Just go get dressed or something, we can handle it." Dylan shook his head and granted you another smile - sweeter than the one he made before leaving you with Eric during night. You didn't say anything, but didn't resist either - you didn't know Eric too well and didn't really have the skills yet to behave around him when he's in such a state. You just nodded and walked upstairs, heading for the bathroom. You closed the door behind you and locked yourself inside. When you opened the closet, you realized that your clothes were thankfully still there. You undressed from your pajamas and clumsily put on all your clothes which you felt comfortable in. A look into the mirror revealed that you, for some strange reason, don't look as bad as usual. You probably never looked bad, but your minds loves to play tricks on you, doesn't it? A little stroke with a brush and you were ready to reveal yourself to the boys again. One last glance at yourself and you unlocked the door, opened it - even though it was hard to do that, probably because of the furniture's age - got outside and slammed it shut behind yourself. Now you realized why Eric had to be so loud on that night, because these door surely couldn't be closed in any silent way. You walked downstairs, and to your surprise, Eric was already dressed in his iconic trench coat, and so was Dylan. Each was carrying a shotgun of some sort, and before you could say anything, one was handed to you too.

,,Don't worry, not asking you to shoot it," Eric said while stuffing the shotgun into your arms, probably sensing that you were a bit scared to handle such a weapon. ,,just get it in the car." He commanded, pointing at the opened front door. 

,,Alright, no problem." You carried the gun out of the door while the boys were probably still picking some stuff up inside the house. You walked outside and looked around just to spot a car with opened trunk nearby. Judging that it's probably Eric's, you got to its' trunk and carefully placed the shotgun in it, then made few reassuring steps away from the car. You looked back at their house, thinking that even though you have plenty of time until your parents come back, you should return home. They probably wouldn't stand such an ammateur around a shooting range either. Before you could zone out into your thoughts completely, Dylan disturbed you while again passing by to put his stuff in the trunk, thoroughly next to the shotgun you put there.

,,Why are you just standing here like that?" He closed the trunk, the sound of it now completely snapped you out of daydreaming. You looked at him, not being sure what to answer, so he explained his question. ,,I thought you'd go shooting with us. I mean we both thought." He said, and your heart skipped a beat at the fact that you don't have to leave them for more loneliness just yet.

,,I... I didn't know you'd want me with you." You admitted, having to ask one more time before hopping into the backseat. ,,Seriously though, I can go with you?" 

,,Sure, we're pretty excited about it." Dylan spoke for both himself and Eric, which gave you some sort of a confidence. With a quiet "nice", you opened the door and sat to the backseat, then carefully closed it behind you. You'd expect him to sit in the front, but for some reason he didn't, and sat next to you. It's not like you were going to complain, though. After a moment of sitting there in an awkward silence, Eric finally got out of the house and walked to the car. He put his shotgun in the front seat and then got into the driver's seat, slamming the door behind him. He handed something back to you, and a short moment took you to realize that it's a very old-fashioned camera. By instinct, you took it in your own hands, already trying to figure out how it works.

,,What am I supposed to do with it?" You asked confusedly while looking into it like if you've never held such a thing before. You aimed it at Dylan first, who just childishly waved at the screen.

,,Record videos, maybe?" Eric chuckled and started the car up. It made a loud noise and began slightly shaking, but that was no problem for you in holding the camera steady. ,,Just press the button on the side, that's how you start it." He added, and you did as he told you. A red dot began flickering on the screen, and that was how you knew that the recording was in progress. You gestured at Dylan to wave again, and he did so, then you turned the camera to Eric, who was slowly pulling off.

,,So where are we going and what are we gonna do?" You asked, fluently enough to be properly understood later in the footage. It got a bit harder to focus the camera on a certain spot as the car started moving.

,,We're going to the woods nearby the hills, to shoot." Eric stated, not looking very focused on driving. You wondered why. ,,But before that we're gonna stop at a drive-thru, because we skipped breakfast at home."

,,And what's the purpose?" You continued asking, trying to squeeze out as much information as possible. It would be just stupid and awkward to record the footage while you're all silent.

,,Just for fun I guess, not to get out of shape." Eric shrugged. Suddenly, the one sitting next to you grabbed your camera and gently pulled it out of your hands, not hesitating to turn the camera at you. You weren't really sure how to react, so you just kind of smiled and waved, but more questions were coming.

,,You should introduce yourself to the camera too," Dylan said, recording every move of yours. ,,what's your name, stranger?"

,,[Y/n], I'm [Y/n]." You said.

,,Are you a part of the trenchcoat mafia, [Y/n]?" The sudden question pulled you out of all fun. 

,,What does a trenchcoat mafia identify for you?" You knew that the connection of two words meant something, but there were many ways to understand it and you didn't want to embarass yourself.

,,Being an outcast." Dylan firmly explained, keeping it short.

,,Well... I guess." You almost unnoticably nodded. It were just words, but you felt like that by saying this, you've commited to something. Something that you didn't have too much of a clue about, but then you remembered your school days - and knew why you would feel like one of them. It wasn't the bullying, it wasn't the shittalking behind your back - it was being different, and the feeling and fact of having no one who would understand you. Because of that, you would separate yourself from having any deeper contacts with casual members of the school's population. You remembered.

***

Eric stopped the car in front of the forest's entrance. It seemed like he wasn't rushing anywhere anymore, you were surprised by how calmly it went. The camera was once again yours, and your task was to record them as they were fucking around with the guns. You got out of the car, already filming everything - how Eric opened the trunk and then they both armed themselves, Eric locking the car, slowly walking towards the spot they were at before. You knew the forest well, so you wouldn't get lost in there for sure.

,,We're deep enough now." Eric said and stopped walking. Since the woods were covering a hill, you all stood somewhere higher than the town was - the sight of when you turned around was amazing. You could see the entire town, and other hills covered by unbelievable amounts of trees too. You would dare to call it the roots of your aesthetical senses. ,,This is so cool." He admitted as well. 

,,And we're not even on the top of the hill." You smiled, being glad that they like the place. 

,,I wonder what it would be like up there." Dylan said, looking up. But Eric didn't have no mood for travelling, instead told Dylan that it's time to get their guns loaded, and you to stay in a safe distance and record them. You sat to a tree, leaning your back against it. You made sure to record every single thing. 

,,That tree over there, watch." Dylan pointed at a tree and aimed his gun at it. He seemed pretty sure about shooting it, although it took him a while to settle his aim properly. After few moments of tension, a shot was fired to be heard. You stood up and walked over to the determined tree, pointing your camera at it - it wasn't even a surprise that Dylan shot the tree perfectly. The hole was straight in the middle of its' strain.

,,Good job." You turned at Dylan, who walked there to see his success himself. He took a careful look at the hole, and a bright smile appeared on his face. 

,,Wanna try it out now?" Dylan's attention began to be paid at you, though you weren't sure what to answer.

,,I'll probably mess it up." You shook your head, rather staying behind the camera. But Dylan wouldn't stop convincing you.

,,There's nothing too hard on it if we show you how to hold it." He shoved the weapon in your hands again, exchanging it for the camera. You looked down and noticed its' familiar shape - was it the shotgun that they've used in the rampart range video? It definitely looked similar. Dylan walked back to the spot fom where he was shooting, and you followed him until you were at a reasonable distance from the target. He would point the camera at you while Eric properly positioned the shotgun in your hands.

,,Have a strong hold, it's gonna kick." He warned you before stepping away, and pointed at a tree that was closer than the one Dylan shot. You nodded, and being the huge novice you were, you slowly and shakily aimed the shotgun at the tree. It took you a few moments to ensure yourself that your hold is the strongest it can be, and then you pulled the trigger. The shotgun kicked back, almost fleeing behind you - but it did you a great frighten. You looked down to see your arms being just fine, even though it hurt a little. Not wanting to whine, you looked back up, not being able to identify any wound in the tree from this far away. Thankfully, someone was already on their way to check if you succeeded - Dylan. But when you saw him turning back at you and Eric, with the camera pointing anywhere he looked, you could tell that the result was rather poor.

,,Try harder!" Dylan teased you, but Eric ably got the shotgun from you. He aimed at the same tree as you did, and signaled Dylan to get away fom there, preferably somewhere next to you. Dylan obeyed and began slowly walking in your direction again.

,,Watch and learn." Eric grinned and loaded the shotgun, firing a shot shortly after. Even fom the distance you could see the small pieces of wood flying away fom there. He put the shotgun down and smiled. 

,,We could take turns." Dylan suddenly suggested, being answered by a calm "cool" fom Eric. You didn't refuse either. And so the rounds have started - Dylan, You, then Eric, and repeat. On the fourth round, you already knew what to expect, and adapted your aim to it, meaning that your results were getting better with each round. Dylan would give you a proud smile everytime you'd at least scratch the tree, even though it was nothing compared to how experienced they were. These were some of the best-spent hours of your life. By the end of the shooting session, you already hit a target twice, and scratched it a few times.

,,You can be proud of yourself." Eric let out when you were driving back home, already after a lunch that you've stopped for somewhere in the town. You were the one holding the camera again.

,,Thanks." You said, his words making you smile. You didn't even resist it, once again feeling the most comfortable around them. Throughout the drive to their house, you realized that there must have been something strange about what you've felt to them. They were strangers, strangers who convinced you to oversleep and not go home. Strangers who made you not think about whether you switched all the plugs off because when you were leaving your room, you didn't even look back. Strangers who let you eat with them, and one of them spent a night beside you.   
You never really knew how to make friends when it wasn't on the internet, so you often sucked at real-life interaction. But if this was how you make fiends in real life, then making friends in real life is something awesome. 

When did you even start calling them friends?


	5. Chapter 5: The basement tapes.

Hey everyone.  
You wouldn’t believe me how sorry I am for not updating sooner. Life's just been shit, and I wasn't able to find time for this. However, I am back with 2 more chapters to go including this one. I secretly hope that there are some of you who didn't give up on waiting for another chapter, but I doubt there are people like that out there.  
Enjoy reading! I love you all.

\---------------

The day happened to slip through your hands so fast, you barely realized that. 

Sitting outside, stabbing meat on wooden sticks and then roasting it above a fire, which was your only source of heat - not that you felt cold, anyways. Instead of Eric, Dylan, or maybe the fire itself, something else was receiving your attention. When you looked above yourself, you could see an incredibly starry sky. You've probably never seen as many stars as you were seeing at the moment, and it did feel wonderful indeed. Like if an unknown giant was staring down at the three of you, while his eyes were pitch black, yet full of white, glowing dots.

“What are you thinking about huh?”Eric spoke up, ripping you apart from the comfortable void in your mind.

“I don’t know... I’m just amazed.”

“Oh, no wonder. It’s really mysterious up there.”

You could feel a sneaky giggle in his voice, and immediately began wondering why. Maybe you’d notice that Dylan isn’t missing out on any laughter too, only if you weren’t so embraced by space at the time.

“What are you laughing at?”

“Your food’s getting roasted way too much, [Y/n].”

Not even saying anything as an answer, you immediately looked back in front of yourself. You found the fire’s light slightly blinding as your eyes got used to darkness before, but there was no problem in adjusting to the warm light quickly. Very soon, you managed to recognize that the meat you were so excited for was already burnt from one side, which resulted in you pulling it out of the fire. It ended up being on fire, but as much as it made you panic, Dylan blew the fire off. Now, there was only smoke coming out of your meat, together with an unpleasant smell.

It wouldn’t be truly you if that didn’t make your serious face crack, followed by a self-degrading laugh. The boys seemed relieved that it didn’t worse your mood.

“Screw me,” you chuckled, shrugging “I guess I’ll just eat the half of it that didn’t get burnt alive.”

“Bon apetit.” Dylan smiled. To him, it meant formality.

“I think me and Dylan will have to go take out some stuff to the dump behind this town, so we might leave you alone as long as you don’t really wanna go with us.” Eric mentioned. His information made you whine in annoyance.

“Why can’t you go tomorrow morning? It’s already dark outside, come on.”

“Because I said so. Waking up early in the morning because of this would be a pain in the ass.” Eric stated, not leaving anything for you to answer with – unless you felt the need to start a fight. Rather than that, you sighed it off and began eating your beloved piece of sausage-like meat.

You looked at Dylan, as if you were seeking some sort of advocacy from him, but didn’t get anything else than a sympathetic look. In some cases, both of you just had to respect Eric’s temper, and it wasn’t like you had any huge reason for him to go in the morning at that day. At the same time, however, you had to admit that Eric had a point with the thing about waking up early.

As soon as you switched your glance at Eric, you noticed he’s staring up at the night sky just like you did before. You decided to join him this time, and had a feeling that Dylan was joining you soon after, too.

“We’re so small.” Eric muttered.

“Incredibly.” Dylan agreed, his voice suddenly shifting into a poetic sort of tone – like if he was saying one word, but actually had many of them lying in the back of his head. Not just words, but sentences. Not resting there, but furiously fighting their way to his tongue, so they could finally see the world’s light. You decided to try and help them out.

“How do you feel about it, Dylan?”

“It’s strange, a little breath taking. It just makes me question... everything. I mean what if someone’s living out there and he’s staring up at us, just like we’re staring up at them? And we might never know.”

For a moment, you glanced in Dylan’s way. You could see on his face that he was currently in the awe of universe.

“When I saw so many stars like this for the first time, I felt kinda scared. Can’t lie about that.” you spoke up.

“You shouldn’t be scared of it... you should embrace it.”

Eric made it clear that he’s finished eating once he stood up, throwing his wooden stick to the fire. Without saying anything, he made his way to the car.

“V! Let’s go.” he gestured at his friend to follow him. Even though Dylan stood up and walked in his direction, he made sure to stop by you before he’d completely disappear with Eric.

“Can you put the fire down?”he asked caringly.

“Sure, don’t worry about it. I can handle this.” you tried to calm his worries down with a kind smile, and thankfully that seemed to work. You said your byes, and Dylan with Eric were off to the ride.

After they left, you decided to stay outside for a little while more before putting the fire out. Just when you were in the process of doing so, and also chewing on the last bit of the meat, you realized that it was kind of tasteless for the entire time. How strange that you were able to ignore that. Once you were done, you made sure that you haven't left anything that could start a fire again around - then you made your way to the house. 

When you looked around there, you realized that staying outside would probably be less scary in the end. Recalling your nightmare, the house's interior would always turn out chilling and you'd begin to feel uncomfortable. However, it wasn't something that your relatively mature mind would allow itself to rant about.

You made sure to switch all the lights on, though you knew you'd feel all embarassed once they come back home. You sat down on the couch. No matter how huge the house was, you began feeling like everything was closing up on you, like if everything wanted to hunt for you. The furniture was suddenly haunting, and you realized there's no way you can stay alone in the middle of such a huge room by yourself as panic began to take over your senses.

Quickly standing up, your heart started beating unusually fast and you felt a knot tightening in your stomach. Your eyes began shifting from side to side, looking for any place comfortable enough for you to hide in - and there, you remembered. The cellar from which Eric has taken his guns this morning! A perfect spot to hide in before they come back. At the moment, you couldn't care less about their reaction and sprinted downstairs, to later find yourself in a small, decent, underground room. You made sure to switch the lights on again, and shut the door closed behind yourself. 

Light and a few deep breaths made you feel safer than before. You sat in the corner of the room, and noticed how decorated it was. A small desk with a TV standing on it, but no chairs. Next to the desk was lying a bunch of VHS tapes - you knew it was extremely wrong, but curiosity drove you into crawling closer to them, then examining their titles.

It turned out to be a little hard, reading anything from Eric's or Dylan's handwriting, but you still managed to figure some titles out. 

Suddenly, your heart skipped a beat. You had to read the title over and over, until you made sure that your brain isn't just fooling you - BASEMENT TAPE #1. Right after that one, another VHS carried the title BASEMENT TAPE #2. You were furiously switching between the last four tapes which you happened to be holding. You couldn't believe your eyes. 

You left the other three lying on the cold, concrete floor and took an advantage of the first one. Any feeling of shame or guilt was gone at the moment, as this felt like literally discovering a treasure that many people have been seeking and praying for for years. 

You shouldn't be scared of it... you should embrace it.

Remembering Eric's words gave you courage while trying to figure out how to switch on the TV and then put it into a VHS mode. Time was certainly ticking, but you were faster, and managed to shove the tape into the player. Your hands were shaking as you picked up the remote, pressing the play button nervously. As soon as only a hint of a real basement tape appeared on the screen, you lost all control over your hand muscles and dropped the remote on the ground. 

"Oh my god... holy shit, holy shit. It's fucking happening, oh God." you gulped. 

Dylan and Eric were sitting on a sofa. The recording was on, and they proceeded to debate some stuff about school and NBK. Your entire body began shaking while your eyes were getting blessed with something holy for you. Everything in the world disappeared into nothingness, and only the basement tapes were an existing thing. 

 

"Go, Romans! Thank God they've crucified that asshole..." Eric ranted. You remembered this line from audio clips, but seeing it synchronized with the actual footage was a completely different level of experience.

You continued to watch the tape, carelessly sitting on the cold ground - but you didn't give two fucks about the circumstances. The fact that you were able to see this was the only thing that mattered. 

Once one basement tape would end, you'd switch to another one, like a machine programmed to do so. This way, you've gotten to the third one...

...the cellar door opened, and you froze in fright.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I hope you liked it <3  
> Please leave a feedback if you have anything to tell me, such as what I should do better or if you like the story and if I should even continue.  
> Also, sorry for the eventual grammatical errors, English isn't my native language. 
> 
> [F/C] = Favorite color
> 
> And one last thing, for the people who would like to dig their noses into "WHY THE FUCK WOULD I WRITE SOMETHING LIKE THIS, DYLAN AND ERIC KILLED PEOPLE, OMG, I MUST BE SO SICK, PLS STOP"... Don't even bother. Althought nobody like that commented yet, I am very well aware that those people will eventually come and leave only pure hate behind, that's why I'm including this. My argument is - if you don't like it, just ignore it. Nobody is asking for an opinion from someone who only wants to rant about how writing this is wrong. Thank you.  
> But for all the others, don't be afraid to leave a comment or contact me if you just wanna talk or something.  
> Bye for now! <3


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